Watch A V8-Powered Ford Transit Van Get Seriously Sideways In The Snow

Here’s something you don’t see every day – a Ford Transit drifting van.

No, your eyes don’t deceive you. That is a Ford Transit van being skillfully driven sideways. It isn’t a vehicle you would normally associate with drifting, to say the least. The purpose? The guys over at Transit Center wanted to test the quality of a set of new Trateo wheel hubs. So they sent a seventh-generation Ford Transit van out onto the snow at a Polish rallycross circuit to see how much punishment they could take. Of course, this Ford Transit isn’t as modest as your standard delivery van.

Aptly named the ‘Drift Bus,’ this modified machine packs in a V8 engine lifted from a BMW M5. Taming the Transit was renowned European drifting champion Maciej Polody, who pushed the van out of its comfort zone to its very limits. Never has a Ford Transit been so tail-happy.

The video documenting the testing is spectacular to watch, as Polody makes sliding the Transit at every turn look ridiculously easy. It really wasn’t, however. “Every turn was defeated in a controlled slip confronting snow lying on the track, which made it difficult to predict movements of the Transit and control the vehicle,” Transit Center wrote. It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that this was meant to be a serious suspension test. After watching that performance, you would think the Trateo wheel hubs passed the test with flying colors. And you would be right: all the tested components were so successful that they were immediately sent into mass production.